~ Blog about WaiterOne, a POS solution for the restaurant and bar business for iPhone/iPod and iPad.

COS is dead, long live COS

It’s been a while since I wrote something useful over here. Well, actually I have been rather busy coding some new and exciting stuff for our WaiterOne suite. Like always, it just takes more time to work it out then you initial thought it would be. Especially as it is kind of new to the hospitality business. A new customer experience, new screens, new look and feel, an app that should be very easy to use, easier then WaiterOne itself. Not an easy task to do.

2 Years ago we introduced our Client Ordering System, COS is running on your iPad and hosts a menu card so your clients can order themselves with their smartphone, they don’t have to wait or ask for the menu card at the waiter. The problem with COS was that your clients smartphone needs to be connected to the network of your business. Not something you fancy with all these teenaged script kiddies out there waiting to cripple and misuse your wifi network. So COS needed some rethinking. Some reengineering.

What have we done. We have created a new universal app, an app that runs on your iPad and iPhone (Android should follow shortly). When installed on your device you can use it to order drinks and food in your favourite café, bar or restaurant. Depending on the setup in your local whereabout, you scan the QR code

or you just walk in, as your iPhone knows where you are (iBeacons, GPS location). Due to some nifty synchronization logic you will always have the latest menu card and you can order straightaway, no need to wait for the wait-er. Faster ordering also means that clients will order more, as they don’t have to wait anymore. At the end you can also ask your bill as everything is already handled by WaiterOne. In a later stage we could also connect it to a payment provider (tips included of course).

We have our first installation with the new COS this month. The setup will be slightly different, but the idea is the same. Every table in the restaurant will have its own iPad. Instead of looking in a paper version of the menu card, you scroll through the different product groups on the iPad and order yourself by adding items to your order. In case you have like special demands, you just add a remark or comment. Your order is immediately treated by WaiterOne, orders are send to the bar and the kitchen. No time to wait. In case you want to have another drink, just add something to your previous orders.
I am strong believer that this way of working will change the hospitality business completely in the next years. From version 1.4.0 on, COS will be integrated in WaiterOne. Interested to test it out? Do you have a comment? I am awaiting your email!